Good Day Everyone

Hi everyone, wish you all had a great start into 2009, and hopefully we can ride through this financial crisis together. I was browsing around and came across this website, I think its an excellent website especially to share knowledge and experience.

My name is Steve, and I'm working as a Home Finance Manager with Westpac (Perth Metro, WA) specialising in housing loans / investment loans. Just a little background about my career and education

Career
5 years with BankWest started off as a teller and worked my way to Senior Lender.
Joined Westpac almost a year ago as a Home Finance Manager and loving it every second of it

same here... financial crisis hasn't hit me directly as I dont have any investments other than my super and I still have my job. Im just glad interest rate came down so the difference in interest savings can go back paying the principal bit of the loan.

Average properties values in Perth are going downhill at the moment, just like what was happening over in the eastern states 1-2 yr ago. A few properties investors that I know are on the sideline waiting for more properties to pop up or waiting for prices to drop a little further. Besides that, Lending is getting more competitive at the moment, especially with Keystart variable loan sitting at 6.24% while normal banks are sitting around the same. The only place that doesnt hit you with the huge Lender's Mortgage Insurance is Keystart and a lot of First home buyers are steering towards them. Keystart offers a good deal for people who are building as they only have to pay $50/wk during construction until completion which means they dont have to pay interest on any loan drawndown except the loan on their land.... good bargain aye... ANZ is not a strong competitor anymore as their maximum lend is only 90%.. I guess that cut out alot of first home buyers.

Business has slowed but not as bad as what I thought. Just got to give the clients the right mindset. Not doing much first home buyers at the moment even the staff in my branch is going through keystart for their home loan. Majority of my deals are mainly refinance from other banks, purchasing investment properties or marriage splits <----- time of the year.